Xeno Q
by Feenie13
Summary: Sequel to Xenotale! Even though the Xeno crews thought they were going home, it seems someone has bigger plans in store for them...
1. Falling Down the Rabbit Hole: Multiple

tfw you get a sequel done faster done than the third chapter of yw re

Anyways! This is a sequel of sorts to Xenotale, my previous Xeno crossover! There will be references to that work, but afaik it shouldn't be necessary to read that work except to know why Shion and Fei's groups know about Homs and some other things here and there!

There will be spoilers for all of the Xeno series games thus far, Persona 3, Persona 4, Persona Q, and Undertale with references, so please be careful if you aren't up to date with spoilers!

Enjoy!

* * *

"What is this…?"

On a distant planet, a group of people were gathered around a large glowing point of light out in an odd-looking wilderness. It stood about as tall as the brown-skinned woman standing near it, shimmering brighter as she neared it for a few seconds.

"That's what we've been trying to investigate all day," a man with long black hair explained. "Cross said they had stumbled upon it while looking for more places to plant probes. Where are they, again?"

"NLA, they had to talk with Eleonora," a small, black-haired girl responded. "Didn't expect them to send us all out here, though."

"Sorry, I'm sorry!" a voice called before a young adult with short brown hair, tanned skin, and armor all over them ran up to the group. "I had to check with her about my BLADE level, I'm so close to getting another level soon…!"

"It's alright, Cross!" the black-haired girl assured. "Anyways…how did you find this?"

"I was combing Primordia with Celica, Nagi, and HB earlier, and we just…found that," Cross explained. "Don't know what it is, honestly…"

"Ooh, ooh!" a Nopon spoke up. "Tatsu have idea! Glowy thing piece of monster!"

"I doubt it," the dark-skinned woman responded, shaking her head. "This thing looks almost…intangible. We haven't encountered anything like this on Mira at all before."

"So what should we do with it, then?" Cross wondered. "This might be too dangerous to leave lying around…"

Before anyone else could say anything, Cross reached out to the glowing point. The woman's eyes widened as the world around them started to glow brightly.

"Cross, no–"

Within moments, the group was gone, as was the point of light.

–

Shion shuddered as she found herself in what was definitely not the Elsa, her group at her side along with Shulk and Fei's groups.

"…we're not in our homes," Fiora realized. "I thought we could go home after freeing all the monsters, why…?"

The land they were in was…dark. The soil was pitch black, a faint gray path leading somewhere Shion was afraid to guess where. When she looked behind her, she winced at seeing there was hardly any land behind them. The sky was dark gray, hardly any light present…Shion had to squint to see just where the path led, and even then she couldn't tell where the path would go.

"…I can't see any of those glowing points of light," Shulk noted. "Are they gone now…?"

"It seems so," Dunban confirmed. "Are we all alright?"

The party checked themselves over. Shion grimaced at all the the dirt and bandages on her friends: they spent how many hours running around the underground, she didn't feel like she was in perfect shape, but…

"I think we'll live," Shion spoke aloud. "Are we still able to use our Ether skills?"

MOMO, Billy, and Citan nodded. Sharla paused before nodding herself. "I'm not sure if my healing skills will work on humans, but…well, they've worked on High Entia and Nopon, so…"

"Let's get going, I don't like the feel of this place," Jr prompted.

The group slowly started walking forward, Shion looking around as she walked. The land just seemed to…dip off at some points, and she couldn't see anything else past the dips. Occasionally, chunks of earth were suspended in hair, but they were too high up in the sky for anyone to touch.

"There's just…nothing here," chaos commented. "Did we do something wrong?"

"We did everything right!" Melia responded, wings fluffing up. "We saved all of the monsters! I thought we could go home…"

Eventually, Shion spotted something in the distance, and broke into a run. Several people shouted at her in surprise, but she didn't stop until she reached what she had seen: a group of people were lying unconscious, sprawled out all over the ground. Shion bent down, only to rear back in surprise when she saw a girl that reminded her strongly of MOMO, minus the hair color and hair-clips. A man was lying near the girl, and Shion thought she could have easily mistaken him for Dunban if she had gotten separated from him.

"Shion! Oy!" Bart shouted as the party caught up. "Don't run off like that! I can't believe I'm the one saying that!"

"These people…are they more humans?" Melia asked Shion.

"Maybe…though I haven't seen most of them before…" Shion confessed.

"Riki see nopon!" Riki gasped, darting over to what looked like a nopon in a green outfit. "Though this nopon not familiar…"

"Some of these people…this girl looks like MOMO, and the man near her reminds me of Dunban…" Shion confessed.

"Let's make sure they're alright," Billy decided. "I wonder how they got here, we never saw them in the underground…"

One of the people started waking up: a dark-skinned woman with silver hair, clad in red. She slowly sat up, her eyes narrowed as she reached for what Shion could only assume was a weapon.

Gaignun stepped forward, shaking his head. "We're not here to hurt you. We found you all like this just moments ago," he explained.

"…who are you? I've never seen any of you around New Los Angeles," the woman asked.

"Ah…we've got a lot of people to introduce…" Shion realized, glancing back at the mixed group of people with her before turning back to look at the woman. "For now though…I'm Shion Uzuki, I'm from Vector Industries' First Division."

"Vector Industries…never heard of it," the woman noted, frowning.

"We've never heard of New Los Angeles either, lady," Jr muttered.

Shion simply nodded at the woman. "We'll all introduce ourselves properly once you and your friends have recovered. Please don't worry, we're lost in this world too."

The woman looked around, grimacing as she did so. "…where are we?"

"Don't know," Reyn admitted. "We're tryin' to figure that out too."

One by one, the unconscious people woke up. Shion started to realize two of them were definitely not human: one of them had blue skin and what seemed to be horns, while another looked human save for their pointy ears and odd-looking eyes.

"Are we all okay?" the woman asked. There was a reluctant murmur of agreement, a person with short brown hair and tanned skin approaching Shion.

"I'm Cross, member of the Pathfinder division of BLADE! I never thought I'd see so many humans here…" they greeted.

"Er…some of us aren't human," Shulk explained. "But that's probably best saved for when we know we're safe. I'm Shulk, by the way."

"Nice to meetcha!" Cross greeted, smiling brightly before frowning as they looked around. "This isn't like any continent I've been to on Mira…where are we?"

"We don't even know," Shion confessed. "We found ourselves here after we thought we could go home…"

"It might be best to stick together for now," Jin suggested. "If we run into anything dangerous out here, we'll be better off instead of just going alone."

"I agree. My name's Elma, by the way," the woman informed. "Where were you guys headed before you found us?"

"That way," Bart answered, nodding toward the path stretching toward the murky horizon. "Dunno where it leads, but nothing else was behind us. Might as well take our chances."

"Lin, can you pick up anything?" Elma asked the black-haired girl. She nodded before interacting with a device on her wrist.

"…no good. Nothing but static on the comm," Lin reported, frowning. "We're definitely not on Mira anymore."

"Ughh…Tatsu feel like nasty Prone toss him around…" the mystery nopon complained, slowly getting up. Shion had to fight back giggles at seeing that Tatsu wore glasses with a spiral design on them, giving him something of a comical look.

"Tatsu? Riki never heard of Tatsu before in Frontier Village!" Riki noted.

"Frontier Village?! Riki from legendary Frontier Village?" Tatsu gasped.

"Legendary?!" Riki exclaimed, ear-wings fluffing up. "Frontier Village real! Where Tatsupon from if not Frontier Village?!"

"Tatsu from Mira! Tatsu thought Frontier Village was myth! Where Frontier Village at?" Tatsu answered.

"Mira? Riki never heard of Mira before! Where that on Bionis?" Riki asked in turn.

There was an awkward moment of silence before Citan cleared his throat. "If I may interrupt your conversation, I believe your group is from another time and place, as most of us here are."

"Another time and place…" Elma mumbled before raising her voice. "What year is it for you all, then?"

"For my group, it's 4767 TC," Shion explained.

"If I remember correctly…it's 9998?" Fei answered, trying to think.

"…I'll be honest, I'm not sure what year it is on Bionis," Shulk confessed.

"…it was the year 2056 AD for us," Elma answered. "I think…for now, it's better to think of us as coming from different worlds, I don't know where to begin with some of you being possibly far off in the future."

"Understandable. Now…shall we keep walking?" Citan prompted. Cross' group slowly nodded, and fell into step with the others.

"Tatsu can't believe Frontier Village is real! Rikipon really from legendary Frontier Village?" Tatsu asked Riki.

"Of course!" Riki responded, puffing out his chest. "All Nopon on Bionis born in Frontier Village! But why Frontier Village considered legendary…?"

"All nopon told legend of Frontier Village! Paradise for nopon! Safe place for nopon to sleep and eat all day!" Tatsu answered.

"Not exactly it!" Riki answered, shaking his head. "Nopon are chosen every year for Heropon duty, and Riki is Heropon this year! Riki have Oka and littlepon to take care of…"

"Riki is Heropon?!" Tatsu gasped. "And have littlepon?! Tatsu thought Riki was young like Tatsu!"

"…it amazes me that nopon don't even know each other's ages sometimes," the Dunban-lookalike remarked.

"They aren't from the same world!" Lin reminded. "I don't think they'd know each other's ages if they weren't familiar with each other."

"Probably shouldn't expect much from a pair of xenos," a bald man snorted, prompting Cross to elbow them.

"Bozé, lay off them," they sternly reminded. "It's nothing to insult them over."

"I said I wanted you to call me 'sensei', Cross," Bozé protested.

Cross shook their head, huffing. They fell quiet, squinting into the distance. "…someone's there."

"An indigen?" Elma asked, stopping dead in her tracks as she tried to see whatever it was Cross saw.

"No, human-shaped…can't make out any features, though," Cross answered. "Doesn't look hostile, though."

The group slowly approached the figure, the being becoming more clear as they approached them. They stood slightly taller than Shion, their entire body covered in a black robe and hood. The odd person seemed to carefully watch the party as they approached. Out of the corner of her eye, Shion could see chaos frown deeply.

"…who are you?" Shulk asked, wringing his hands together.

"…I have no name," the being responded with a quiet, boyish voice. "I am simply a guide for those who are lost. Where do you wish to go?"

"We…We're trying to get back to our respective worlds," Shion responded. "Can you help us?"

"I might," the being responded, nodding. "Please, step forward."

The large group slowly stepped forward, and the air before them rippled and shimmered before showing a murky image of…what looked like a large, humanoid creature, dressed in robes and a crown.

"That's not…" Shion began before a strong wind started blowing. Shion glanced behind her to see bright yellow eyes peeking out of the hood, a sharp-toothed smile visible.

" _Enjoy your trip._ "

Shion felt herself falling backwards, and everything suddenly went dark before her eyes.

–

Minato would be lying if he said he wasn't tired. He and the rest of SEES had wound up in a strange school, had to go through some strange labyrinth/festival exhibit called You in Wonderland, and now just as the Queen of Hearts and her card army was close to overwhelming them, new Persona users had shown up, very obviously not from Iwatodai.

The battleground was complete chaos, the sound of spells going off left and right as more and more Card Soldiers reared their ugly mugs. An Agi spell from Orpheus neatly dispatched one, only for another to take its place.

"We're not going to last long like this!" Mitsuru realized as she stabbed another Card Soldier with her rapier. "How are there still so many of them?"

"Hey! Who's fighting the Queen?!" Junpei called.

Minato grunted before turning his sword toward the Queen of Hearts. "On it."

Before he could move, however, he saw Yukari look up and gasp. "Oh my god, what the…"

Minato looked up, and pushed back the hair covering his eye in surprise to make sure he wasn't missing anything. A large group of people were falling from somewhere, landing smack-dab in the center of the battlefield.

"Oh shit," Minato hissed, forgetting about the Queen for a moment to hoof it over to the new group of people. Thankfully, almost all of them looked conscious but disoriented, and nearly all of them had weapons visible on them.

"Where the hell are we now?" groaned a blonde man with an eyepatch covering his eye.

"You're kind of in the middle of a fight, you better get up if you don't want to die," Minato responded before spotting a Card Soldier rearing up near the fallen group. He darted at it, pushing his sword into its chest before it vanished into a miasma of smoke.

Several people in the fallen group immediately got up, drawing weapons of all kinds. The eyepatch guy had a whip, two kids that looked pretty similar to each other each drew a pair of guns, some glasses-wearing guy drew a sword, and another guy with his hair tied back into a ponytail didn't hesitate to start unleashing martial arts moves of some sort on the monsters around him.

"Honestly, the moment I see that guide asshole again, I'm going to show him what a shitty idea it was to push us into this world!" one of the kids snarled.

"I was hoping we wouldn't have to fight," the glasses-wearing guy remarked, "but I suppose it's unavoidable."

The only one who wasn't fighting at all was some guy in a suit with black hair and green eyes, and he was doing his best to stay out of the chaos. All of the other people who could were battling, thankfully, and yet…didn't this guy at least have a gun on him like nearly everyone else in that group seemed to have?

Whatever. Whatever, Minato needed to take down the Queen of Hearts, he could worry about him when they got out of this labyrinth. He returned his attention toward the Queen of Hearts, only to watch as some blonde kid with a sword that wouldn't look out of place in a JRPG start slashing and stabbing her.

"Reyn! Fiora! Time for a Chain Attack!" he called to some guy with ginger hair and a lady that faintly reminded him of Aigis, and within moments the three went to town on the Queen. The Queen screeched in agony, unable to fight back. Before long, she finally toppled over and vanished into smoke, the rest of the Card Soldiers disappearing with her.

"We won!" Junpei cheered. "Sweet!"

Zen and Rei cautiously approached the new group of people, Zen slowly putting away his crossbows. "…you all fought well, even though you fell down here like that. Who are you?"

A brunette girl with a shield was the first to speak. "We…might be best off explaining that when we're safe, we have a lot of people to introduce, it seems. Where are you guys staying?"

"We're…staying at this weird school festival thing that may or may not be disconnected from reality as we know it," Minato answered.

"…to be honest, that doesn't surprise me as much as I thought it would," the blonde kid with the giant sword admitted.

"Disconnected from reality as we know it? I'm…sorry, what?" Lin repeated, folding her arms and tilting her head.

"It's…a long story," Minato admitted. "Might as well get back and show you."

"Ah, wait…the treasure chest the Queen was guarding!" Rei realized. She hurried over to it with Zen, and the two opened up the chest.

"What's in it?" Yukari asked, unable to resist trying to peer over their shoulders. Rei took out a stuffed rabbit, eyes wide.

"…Z…Zen, maybe you…you better have this," she spoke aloud, shoving the rabbit into Zen's hands.

"Ah…are you sure, Rei?" Zen asked.

"Positive! Let's…Let's just go already!" Rei responded.

–

As Minato guessed, the new group of people were completely bewildered by the school festival as SEES had been…though whether it was because they knew what a school festival or not was up in the air. As before, none of the other students would interact with them beyond giving a a few phrases they'd just repeat over and over upon being talked to.

"…they're like video game characters," the one kid with the guns that had a foul mouth noted.

"This is kind of creepy…I'm glad to be somewhere that has some people, but…" the brunette girl commented.

Minato had to pause to look at the new people a little more closely. A good number of them were covered in dirt and scrapes, their clothing was generally disheveled and likely not from the recent fight, and he could tell at least the one guy who wasn't fighting had bags under his eyes.

"…where were you guys before you, ah…fell down the rabbit hole?" Minato asked.

"We were…under a mountain that was filled with sentient monsters. And they wanted one of our souls to break the barrier they were trapped behind," the brown-haired girl responded.

"…sentient monsters? Seriously? You're not pulling our legs?" Junpei asked, raising his eyebrows.

"We aren't. Trust me, you wouldn't believe half of the crazy stuff we've been through…" the girl confirmed, nodding.

"Maybe we should get introductions out of the way," Minato suggested. "We've…got a ton of people to meet and greet, it seems. Who wants to go first?"

"I will!" someone volunteered, their hand shooting straight up. They had brown skin and short brown hair, and…was wearing some sort of futuristic armor that looked like something out of that one scifi game Minato couldn't remember the name of.

"My name is Cross, and these are my friends Elma, Lin, Tatsu, Lao, L, Hope, Mia, Alexa, Yelv, HB, Irina, Gwin, Doug, Bozé, Celica, Frye, Murderess, Nagi, and Phog!" they greeted, gesturing to each of their friends in turn–was that a sentient stuffed animal they had with them? And one guy's skin was blue, what the–

"I'll go next," JRPG Sword Kid volunteered. "My name is Shulk, and these are my friends Reyn, Fiora, Dunban, Sharla, Riki, and Melia."

Another sentient stuffed animal. What were those things…? And one girl had wings on her head?

"I suppose I'm next," Brown-Haired Girl decided. "My name is Shion Uzuki, and these are my friends chaos, Ziggy, MOMO, KOS-MOS, Jr, Gaignun, and…my older brother Jin."

Minato had a feeling Shion and Jin weren't exactly on good terms, but he chose to keep that to himself for now.

"I'll go next," Ponytail-Martial Arts guy spoke up. "I'm Fei, and these are my friends Elly, Bart, Billy, Citan, Maria, Rico, Emeralda, and Chu-Chu."

Third freaking stuffed animal, and Rico's skin was…green? Everyone looked like something out of a video game…not that SEES probably wouldn't be out of place in one, either, but whatever.

"I guess I'm next," the silver-haired guy from the other Persona users declared. "I'm Yu Narukami, and these are my teammates Chie, Yosuke, Yukiko, Kanji, Teddie, Naoto, and Rise."

Okay, why the heck was some guy wearing a comic bear suit or whatever? How did anyone even fit in it?

"…guess that leaves me. I'm Minato Arisato, and these are my teammates Mitsuru, Junpei, Yukari, Akihiko, Koromaru, Ken, Shinji, and Fuuka. The two not part of any group, as far as I can tell, are Zen and Rei."

"Seems that's everyone," Dunban noted. "May I ask what those…things were back there?"

"Ah, they're…" Minato began before glancing at Mitsuru. She folded her arms and closed her eyes before sighing.

"…they have a right to know, they helped take down the Queen of Hearts," she decided.

"True. The things you guys fought are called Shadows. They're these monsters that basically want to kill people," Minato explained.

"Monsters that want to kill people…from the looks of it, you guys seemed accustomed to fighting them," Ziggy noted.

"Well, in a way, we are," Minato confirmed. "But that's a little hard to explain right now. You guys seem pretty used to fighting yourselves."

"That's probably as long of a story as you fighting Shadows," Elma guessed. "We'll probably have lots of time to explain everything later."

"Indeed!" Elizabeth's voice pierced the air, making everyone jump as she, Theodore, and what Minato guessed was another Velvet Room attendant with longer hair than Elizabeth's approached the group.

"And…who're these guys?" Jr asked.

"Elizabeth and Theodore, and…" Minato began, blanking on the other attendant's name.

"Margaret. She's my attendant," Yu spoke up.

"…attendant?" Gaignun repeated, raising his eyebrows.

"Long story, we'll explain later–"

"We can explain now!" Elizabeth assured. "The Velvet Room is a place between dreams and reality, mind and matter. We aim to help all Persona users on their journeys and provide services for them."

"…Tatsu understood none of that!" Tatsu chirped.

"Persona…?" Shion repeated.

"We'll…explain. Later. Okay?" Minato responded, trying to pretend he wasn't feeling overloaded by how much he had to explain to the new people. Mother of Orpheus, how was he going to explain the whole Persona deal?

Shion nodded in response. "Understood."

Minato sighed deeply. "Alright. Elizabeth, why are you guys out here?"

"One of the locks on the doors has broken!" Elizabeth cheerfully responded. "Three more remain!"

"Doors? So there's a way out of here?" Bart asked.

"Well…we think so, at least. We found these three doors in the Velvet Room, but they have chains around them. The working idea is if we explore these labyrinths that crop up, we'll unlock the doors and possibly get out of this place," Minato explained.

"Three doors…I suppose we might not get to go home yet for a while," Shion guessed, frowning. "At least, depending on where that last door leads."

"How did you guys get here, anyways?" Yosuke asked. "I mean, people don't usually just fall out of the sky…"

"We were…trying to get home, but then we ended up in this weird other world, and there was this guy that…now that I think about it, reminded me a little of you, Minato," Shion explained.

"Yeah! He had the same voice as you…up until he got us into this world," Jr added.

"Weird. I'm pretty sure I was with Mitsuru and the others over here, not in some bizarre other world," Minato commented.

"Maybe we'll run into them again!" Cross suggested. "Then we can figure out what's going on!"

"Let's hope so. My team and I were investigating a glowing point of light that appeared out in the field, but when Cross touched it…we were knocked unconscious and sent to that other world," Elma explained.

Shion, Shulk, and Fei's groups noticeably froze up, looking over at Elma. "…did you say…glowing point of light?" Fei asked.

"Yes? Why?" Elma responded.

"It's…" Shulk began before hesitating. "…maybe we're…better off explaining later…"

"Don't worry, we'll wait," Cross assured. "But for now…I think we've gotta rest. Some of you guys look really out of it."

"That'd…probably be for the best," Shion agreed. "Where's the nearest place we can rest?"

"There is the nurse's office," Elizabeth responded. "Though I'm not quite sure if we have nearly enough beds for all of you…"

"I think my group will be okay," Cross commented. "As much as I don't want to sound like a jerk, we seem to be in better shape than the other guys who came with us."

"You are right on that," Shulk admitted. "Though…those who can should probably use the beds first and foremost."

"Cross, is your group going to the nurse's office or coming with us to explore the school?" Minato asked.

"I think we'll stay in the nurse's office! We'll send someone in case something happens!" Cross responded.

Cross, Shion, Fei, and Shulk's groups shuffled into the nurse's office, Elizabeth following after them. Once the door clicked shut behind them, Yu turned to face Minato.

"So, shall we start checking this place out some more?"


	2. Group Date Cafe 1: Cross

The nurse's office was quiet and dark, the younger members of Shion, Shulk, and Fei's parties resting on the beds while the others curled up in corners, leaned against walls sitting or standing, or simply lied on the ground. All of them were fast asleep, Cross' group keeping watch nearby.

"…it's been quite an exciting day," Elma commented. "Though…three doors. I have a feeling we won't be back on Mira for a while."

"I feel bad for the guys who fell with us. They haven't seen their homes in a while, I bet," Lin agreed.

"We noticed how tired they all seemed to be. Perhaps our new friends have seen some horrors that didn't speak?" L guessed.

"That wouldn't surprise me," Nagi admitted. "Though it's up to them to share that with us. Aside from that, however…it seems we're back on Earth."

Cross couldn't help but frown, looking around them. "It…feels weird to be on Earth. I don't really feel anything about being here…"

Celica gently rested her hand on Cross' shoulder. "I understand how you're feeling. Maybe once more of your memories come back, you'll feel something?" she suggested.

Cross simply nodded, reaching up to rest their hand on Celica's.

"Didn't one of those kids say something about this place being disconnected from reality? I don't think we're truly back on Earth," Lao mumbled.

"I suppose, and yet…I missed being on Earth," Hope admitted. "Even if we aren't really back…"

"What I want to know is how our bodies are still working," HB admitted. "The Lifehold must have a limit on how far Mims can be from it before they stop working, yes?"

"Well, yes," Elma responded, nodding. "However, we arrived here through special means. Why our bodies haven't shut down yet…I'm not sure."

"We'll probably figure it out," Cross suggested, raising their head. "Should we tell the others about the whole Mimeosome thing, or…?"

"Tatsu think it better to wait until more opportune time to bring it up!" Tatsu suggested.

"Yes, and the last time anyone did that, Cross got their arm shot off," Lao reminded, shaking his head. "And promptly went into shock because we didn't think to mention the Mimeosomes until the very last second."

"And wasn't it because they were saving you, Tatsu?" Frye asked.

"M-Meh!" Tatsu mumbled, looking away. "T-Tatsu want to know more about Heropon Riki!"

"Tatsu…" Lin grumbled before shrugging. "We'll ask when they wake up. All of them are out cold…"

Cross heard a soft groan, and scrambled up to see that Gaignun guy slowly waking up, clutching his head. "Oh! Someone's awake!"

Several of Cross' group approached Gaignun, a few people frowning in worry when they realized Gaignun was in pain.

"Hey, uh…Gaignun, right? Are you okay?" Cross asked.

"…headache…I feel ill…" Gaignun responded. "Help…"

"Ah, uh…crap, where's your group's medic?" Lao asked, looking around.

"Is there anything we can do to help?" Hope asked gently. "I can tend to you if I need to."

"N…No, I…no, no, never mind," Gaignun responded, slowly shaking his head. "It's just a migraine, I haven't slept in so long…"

"Take it easy. When Elizabeth gets back, we'll ask her to keep the room dark for you," Elma advised. "Just lie back down and try to rest a little more."

Gaignun mumbled quietly in response and lied back down slowly, shutting his eyes. Within moments, he was fast asleep again, and Cross sighed in relief.

"Poor guy. Hope he'll be okay next time he wakes up," they mumbled.

The room fell quiet for a while, until at last the door slowly opened and Minato walked in. He had the same rather apathetic-looking expression on his face he had when everyone returned from the labyrinth.

"Hey," he greeted, quietly. "How're they doing?"

"Gaignun woke up with a migraine before he fell back asleep. How're your friends doing?" Mia asked.

"As you can probably guess, they're excited to be at a cultural festival. Ours got canceled due to a nasty storm," Minato answered, leaning against the nearby wall.

"A shame. Bet it would've been interesting," Bozé commented. "I would've like to see it, at least."

Minato nodded. "So, uh…I dunno what to say, really. Elizabeth sent me ahead of her to make sure the nurse's office wasn't in disarray or anything," he admitted.

"Well, maybe you can tell us more about yourself?" Cross suggested. "If you want, I mean! No pressure or anything!"

"Eh, well…you know my name already, I'm 17, junior at Gekkoukan High School in Iwatodai, parents died when I was a kid, lived with aunt and uncle until Gekkoukan sent me a letter that said 'Hey, we want you to come to our school,' and so here I am."

Minato paused. "…this isn't Gekkoukan, I should clarify. This is some other high school that apparently Narukami and his teammates attend, except not really? There's a bell tower outside the school, and apparently that isn't supposed to be there, so take that as you will."

"Your parents died? I'm so sorry, I had no idea…" Cross apologized, wincing.

"It's alright, it's alright," Minato assured. "I don't expect everyone to know my parents died, it was like ten years ago."

"In any case," Elma quickly said, "where are we going once they wake up and your friends are done exploring the school?"

Minato sighed. "The next labyrinth we found…is apparently a group date cafe thing."

"…a group…date cafe?" Lin repeated, raising her eyebrows.

"We'll explain once everyone's up and moving," Minato responded. "It might…take a bit to explain, since apparently you guys are all from different worlds?"

"It seems so…I mean, didn't one of them claim they were from the year 9998?" Lin guessed.

"Fei did," Phog confirmed, quietly. "…I'm surprised that he's from a world where humans lived to see that year."

"He and his friends don't look…I dunno, futuristic? Like…Shion's friends and your group, Cross, you have a sort of…futuristic aesthetic? It's hard to explain, other than that that's the general feeling I get from your groups. Shulk and Fei's, on the other hand…it's more video game-ish," Minato commented.

Cross couldn't help but giggle. "Video game-ish? That's an expression I haven't heard before!"

"Well, it's true. I mean, christ, look at Shulk. Vest over…what, a sweater? And shorts. Even I dress better than that, when I don't need to wear my uniform," Minato responded, gesturing to Shulk.

"Hunh? Whaddabout my outfit?" Shulk mumbled, slowly sitting up and blinking slowly.

Minato froze a tiny bit before quickly responding, "Nothing. Uh, nice to see you're awake, Shulk."

Shulk just nodded, drowsily glancing around. It took Cross a moment to realize the others were slowly waking up as well, minus Gaignun. Everyone seemed noticeably more alert and awake from before, though there was still the matter of all of them needing a good shower.

…did this weird school even have showers?

"Shulk, Shion, Fei," Minato called, "I know you guys just woke up and all, but we found another labyrinth. Think you guys are up for some exploring?"

"I think so!" Shion responded, brightly. "Where are we headed?"

–

"…a Group Date Cafe?"

Shulk and Fei's groups were staring at the Persona users in sheer bewilderment. Cross themselves was confused, but when they glanced over at their group and Shion's, they had to stifle their laughter at the wide-eyed look on Shion's face and the grin that slowly spread on Lin's. Lao groaned and shook his head.

"Pardon my French, but you've got to be shitting me," he muttered.

"We're not," Yu responded. "We checked, and it's the real deal."

"Oh, come on, Lao! It doesn't sound so bad! It could be a lot of fun!" Lin tried to assure.

"Of all the things for a labyrinth to be based off of…I understand this is some sort of school festival and all, but still…" Shion mumbled.

"Eh? Do you have bad experiences with Group Date Cafes, Shion?" MOMO asked.

"Well, no, but…I'd rather not get involved with romance stuff if I can. I can put up with this if we have to," Shion quickly added. "I want to go home. I miss everyone back at Vector Industries, honestly…I don't even know if Allen's okay, I must have been away for so long…"

"Don't worry!" Mia spoke up, smiling brightly. "I'm sure we'll all be able to get home soon!"

Shion nodded in response. "Right. We've come this far, my friends and I won't give up!"

"In any case, before we set out for the labyrinth, is there anything we should know before some freaky crap happens with anyone?" Minato asked.

"Ah, well…no one in my group is human. Most of us are Homs, while Melia is a High Entia and Riki is a Nopon," Shulk explained.

"…Homs," Minato repeated, looking over Shulk's group. "…and what are Homs?"

"One of the main races on the Bionis!" Fiora answered.

"…uh-huh. I, uh…see," Minato responded before glancing around. "Anyone else?"

"Ziggy's a cyborg, and KOS-MOS and I are androids!" MOMO responded.

"Tatsu also Nopon!" Tatsu squeaked.

"Everyone from my group but Tatsu, L, and Celica are all in robot bodies," Cross added.

"…okay, then…? I'm…not quite sure how to react to all that at once," Minato admitted, scratching the back of his head.

"Robot bodies…are you androids like me?" Aigis asked.

"No, not androids. We're in Mimeosome bodies because, well…Earth got blown up. And we didn't know how long we'd be roaming in space," Yelv tried to explain.

"E-Earth was destroyed in your world? How awful…!" Fuuka gasped.

Shion winced hearing Yelv. "…I'm so sorry, I can't believe that…"

"Hey, hey, relax!" Frye cut in. "It's been like two years now, we found a planet to live on! Though, the problem is, our bodies should have stopped working the moment we left our world…"

"So, uh…we run the risk of you guys possibly dropping dead at any moment?" Yosuke asked, tensing up.

"You…kind of do, yeah," Lin responded, nodding.

"We'll…try to get through the labyrinths as fast as we can then, okay?" Yukiko offered.

"That would be appreciated," Elma answered. "We apologize in advance if suddenly we shut down on you."

"A-Anyways," Yu spoke up. "We should get going while we can."

"What about Gaignun, though…?" Jr asked, glancing over at the nurse's office. As if on cue, the door opened to reveal a groggy-looking Gaignun, the bags under his eyes from before not quite as noticeable as before. Jr instantly ran up, looking up at him with worried eyes.

"I'm…I'm okay, Jr," Gaignun assured. "I'm sorry for making you worry."

"Take it easy! I heard you had a migraine…" Jr insisted.

Gaignun shook his head. "It's better now. I am going to stay behind, however, if that's alright."

"It's totally okay!" Rise responded in a peppy voice. "Fuuka and I act as mission control for everyone else while they're out and about! If you can help us, we'd really appreciate it!"

"I'd love to help!" Gaignun responded. "I may need to be walked through how you two work, however…"

"Don't worry, Mr. Kukai, we'll be more than happy to explain how we work when everyone else sets out," Fuuka assured.

Minato and Yu led everyone save for Fuuka, Rise, and Gaignun to the entrance to the Group Date Cafe. It was covered, top to bottom, in pink and red hearts, bows, and all sorts of cutesy stuff. A silver door stood undecorated amongst the clutter.

"…isn't this a bit overkill?" Dunban asked. "There's so many decorations, it's almost an eyesore…"

"The Alice in Wonderland exhibit was about this bad," Minato responded. "Anyways, if we're ready…"

He yanked open the door, and a chessboard pattern of sorts appeared before Cross' eyes for a few minutes, until suddenly they were standing before a large hall, covered just as much as the display outside. Stuffed bears, statues of what appeared to be an angel clad in nothing but a diaper with a bow and arrow in his hands, heart-shaped tables with matching chairs…it was a cacophony of pink and red imagery.

"…the person who decorated this place should be fired," Lao bluntly stated. "Can mimeosomes become blind from looking at eyesores for too long?"

"No, Lao," Elma responded, shaking her head. "Minato, how does your group navigate these labyrinths?"

"Well, we found this notebook, and it has plenty of blank pages for us to draw layouts of the floors we explore," Minato explained, holding up a notebook with a pitch-black cover on it. "No idea who this belongs to, though, this thing has never seen any use."

"Huh. Weird…what about Fuuka and Rise?" Cross asked.

"We're the navigators!" Rise's voice suddenly broke in, and Cross looked around in confusion.

"Th-They didn't enter the labyrinth with us…!" they stammered.

"Rise? Where are you?" Bart asked.

"Oh, sorry, sorry! I forgot, the only ones probably used to the whole navigator thing!" Rise apologized, shortly before two transparent images of Fuuka and Rise appeared before the group.

"What in the world?! How are you two able to do that?!" Fei asked, stepping back.

"Our Personas are different! Instead of us being able to summon them and have them use spells and stuff to fight, we can provide support back at a safe spot!" Rise explained.

"Rise's Persona seems to be more about hindering our opponents, while mine is more about aiding our allies," Fuuka added.

"That's…actually kind of cool! Wish we had one of those Persona things!" Jr commented before pausing. "How's Gaignun?"

"He's currently staring at us, and–oh, right! Hey, Gaignun, hold one of our hands!" Rise said, turning to face…presumably, Gaignun. There was a pause before Gaignun soon appeared near Fuuka as a transparent image, a wide-eyed look on his face.

"So that's the power of these Personas…this is rather amazing, I have to admit!" he admitted.

"Gaignun! Are you okay?" Jr asked, running up to the image.

"I'm fine, Jr, don't worry," Gaignun answered, nodding firmly. "Don't worry about me, we're safe back here at this school. Go and explore the labyrinth, just be careful."

"I will, don't worry!" Jr responded, grinning.

"Anyways, we'll provide support from the school, you guys just explore the labyrinth!" Rise assured before the images vanished.

Minato took the lead, everyone following him. "Every so often, monsters called Shadows will pop up, and we have to fight them," he explained. "Judging by how you guys were able to fight those Card Soldiers, I don't think we have to worry about your fighting skills down here."

"Are the Shadows sentient?" Shion spoke up, causing Minato to skid to a halt and give her a funny look.

"…sentient? No, they're not…? Why?" he asked, tilting his head.

"Ah, I was hoping maybe we could possibly try sparing them instead of just fighting them," Shion explained.

"Trust me, we've tried being diplomatic with Shadows before," Mitsuru replied, shaking her head. "They're nothing but mindless beasts. The best we can do is killing them before they can kill us."

"…kill or be killed," Fei quietly mumbled, looking a little tense.

"I suppose we would have had to get back into the habit of fighting at some point," Citan guessed. "I certainly don't mind."

Fei huffed, turning to face Citan. "Doc, c'mon…"

"So are you guys pacifists?" Minato spoke up. "Well, assuming Citan isn't."

"I am," Fei answered. "Normally so, anyways…where we were before, we could spare our enemies, and I honestly preferred that."

"…want to go back to the school? Not going to blame you if you're not up for fighting," Minato offered.

"Ah, I…I appreciate the offer, really, but I still want to help however I can. Maybe I could help fill out the map?" Fei suggested.

Minato nodded, handing him the notebook. "Fine by me. Anyways…"

Minato continued walking forward, toward a large set of doors. "Shadows have all sorts of weaknesses, usually, but figuring out each weakness is a guessing game. So, uh, don't feel bad if you don't get it right away?"

"Got it!" Cross responded.

"Be careful, I sense Shadows behind that door!" Fuuka spoke up.

Minato just nodded before pushing open the doors. Three Shadows appeared before the group: two looked like floating snakes with some symbols hanging from their necks, another looked like some sort of statue.

"…that was gutsy of you," HB noted as he drew his shield. Cross drew their rifle, readying themselves.

"Lin, HB, draw aggro away from the rest of the party! Elma, Nagi, and Lao, focus on staggering them!" they ordered.

"Wait, wha–" Minato stammered before Cross led the charge toward the Shadows.

"Reyn, help Lin and HB!" Shulk ordered, drawing the gigantic sword on his back. "We'll help Cross and the others!"

"Got it!" Reyn responded, drawing his…shield-thing and dashing over to HB and Lin. Just as planned, the three drew the Shadows' attention away from the others, guarding against the blows. The next few minutes past that were a chaotic whirlwind of Arts being used and attack names being called.

"Sliding Slinger!"

"Overwhelm!"

"Born in a world of strife…"

"Backslash!"

"Butterfly Step!"

Within minutes, the Shadows were destroyed, dissolving into smoke. Cross slung their rifle back over their shoulder, unable to resist puffing out their chest.

"Nicely done, guys!" they praised. "That wasn't too bad for our first Shadow fight!"

"Um," Minato began, and Cross turned to see both Minato and Yu's group with their weapons drawn and eyes wide. Minato's group all had small silvery guns, while Yu's group had different weapons from knives to a sword to…was that a fan? Did one of them seriously fight with a fan? Shion and Fei's groups had simply watched the fight with wide eyes.

"…uh, were we not supposed to do that?" Cross asked.

"Well, uh…we didn't expect you guys to just immediately start fighting the Shadows like that," Minato admitted, putting his gun back in its holster. "I mean, good on you guys for taking the initiative and all, but dang."

"Yu, your group…don't you use guns to summon your Persona like us?" Yukari asked, holding up her gun.

"No…?" Yu responded. "Are we supposed to?"

"Well, that's how we usually summon ours," Yukari explained. "Our Evokers, they…er…we aim them at our head and pull the trigger, and that's how our Personas come out."

"…that's, uh…something," Yosuke noted. "We usually just crush a tarot card, and boom, Persona."

"I see. Er…shall we pick up the pace?" Mitsuru suggested.

The group continued forward, shortly before a mechanical voice spoke up. "Welcome, stray lambs."

The party stumbled to a halt, some people nearly tripping over each other. Cross nearly bumped into Minato, yelping as they did so.

"What was that?" Fiora wondered, looking around.

"I swear, if it's another Mettaton…" Shulk mumbled, noticeably tensing up.

"You have entered the Group Date Cafe, where one of you shall meet your destined partner," the mechanical voice droned on. "Please confirm who among yourselves shall begin the search for your eternal love."

"…well, I guess it wouldn't be a Group Date Cafe without some partner-searching, right?" Junpei asked. "Hehe, maybe I should join this search…"

"I'll do it," Minato immediately stepped in. "Might as well. I'd rather not have anyone slapping around Junpei."

"W-What?! That's why you're volunteering?!" Junpei stammered.

"Don't you have Chidori?" Minato asked, staring at him. Junpei flinched and nodded, giving a small cough.

"As you step through the doors, you will be asked questions about what you most desire in a partner," the mechanical voice explained. "Answer these questions truthfully, and at the end, you will be matched up with your ideal partner."

"Sounds good to me," Minato decided, shrugging. With that, the mechanical voice fell silent, and the group proceeded onward.


End file.
